Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe of Missouri, seen applauding while delivering the State of the State address on Jan. 28, 2025, in Jefferson City, Mo., called for a special legislative session to pass GOP-crafted congressional redistricting. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)
"Missouri’s conservative, commonsense values should be truly represented at all levels of government, and the Missouri First Map delivers just that," Kehoe said as he recently announced the special session and unveiled the proposed map.
After the House passed the redistricting bill, the governor reiterated that the new maps would ensure "that the values of Missourians are represented clearly and effectively."
The new map proposed by Kehoe targets longtime Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas City-area district by shifting it eastward to include rural right-leaning voters. The new map would likely flip Cleaver's seat and give Republicans a 7-1 advantage in the state's House delegation.
Cleaver has vowed to take legal action if the new map is signed into law by the governor.
"I want to warn all of us that if you fight fire with fire long enough, all you’re going to have left is ashes," Cleaver said Thursday as he testified in front of a Missouri Senate committee.
And pointing to recent public opinion polling, he called the redistricting plan "immensely unpopular."
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas, seen interviewed by Fox News Digital, recently signed into law a bill that redraws the Lone Star State's congressional districts. (Paul Steinhauser - Fox News )
Kehoe's announcement of the special session came hours after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed into law a redistricting bill passed by the Republican supermajority in the state legislature that aims to create up to five right-leaning congressional districts at the expense of currently Democrat-controlled seats in the reliably red state.
ABBOTT CLEARS FINAL REDISTRICTING HURDLE AS TEXAS SENATE PASSES NEW TRUMP-APPROVED MAP
The efforts in Missouri and Texas are part of a broad effort by the GOP to pad their razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.
Trump and his political team are aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House, when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California speaks during a congressional redistricting event on Aug. 14, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP)
With Democrats currently needing just a three-seat pickup in next year's midterms to win back the House majority, Indiana, South Carolina and Florida are mulling their own GOP-friendly redistricting plans ahead of the 2026 elections. And right-leaning Ohio is under a court order to draw new maps ahead of the midterms.
Democrats, as they push back, are looking to New York, Illinois and Maryland in the hopes of creating more left-leaning congressional seats.
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In Illinois and Maryland, where Govs. J.B. Pritzker and Wes Moore are discussing redistricting, Democrats hope to pick up to three more left-leaning seats.
And Democrats could pick up a seat in Republican-dominated Utah, where a judge recently ordered the GOP-controlled legislature to draw new maps after ruling that lawmakers four years ago ignored an independent commission approved by voters to prevent partisan gerrymandering.
Deirdre Heavey is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-backed-congressional-map-passes-senate-crucial-midwestern-state-commonsense-values